Final Post

I can't root for this team any more. I've already wasted about 40% of my life expectancy as a Cubs fan. I can't let the other 60% be wasted as well. I cannot sit idly by an let the disease of rooting for this franchise infect my son. There's still hope for him to be happy.

$100 million dollars has bought one of the worst on-field products in recent memory. There's more plate discipline in the 12-year-olds' rec-league down the street. I'm tired of trying to schedule my life around WGN telecasts, spending money on XM radio that would be better served in a college fund, and defending my fandom in a college football town, to a bunch of pseudo-baseball fans that occasionally root for the Indians or Reds (when they're good).

I'm not giving up on baseball- I'm just giving up on the Cubs. Until this franchise shows 1/1,000,000th of the loyalty to fans that we have shown to this franchise, I'm done.

Nothing Beats a Sweep

A sweep of the Cardinals is a great way to start the work week.

The sad truth is, I fell asleep on the couch in the top of the 8th with the Cubs still down 4-3. I woke up to the cold wet nose of a lonely Rottweiler at 2:30 a.m., to find the "ticker" showing a Cubs win. I fell asleep to nightmares, but went back to sleep to happy dreams.

From the 7 innings I did see, Marshall looked good. I liked his stuff, his poise. I think he's a solid #2 or #3 in the making. A 2007 of Zambrano, Prior, Marshall, Guzman, Maddux, sounds pretty good to me. I didn't forget about Wood, but I thought including Prior on this list was about as optimistic as one could be without being labeled delusional.

Wuertz manned up against Encarnacion and then gave up a hit to Pujols. I'm o.k. with that. Pujols is the reigning MVP. I wasn't expecting a sweep, and would never expect the Cubs to hold Pujols hitless for a series. It's just too unrealistic. Averages catch up at some point and Wuertz drew the short stick.

I'm still concerned about the "long-ball or lose" offense that the Cubs seem to be carrying over from last year, but I'll think about that later. Right now, we all deserve to just sit back and savor the sweep.

Side note: I hate living on Eastern Time during baseball season. I intend to retire on Pacific Time, so east coast day games are on in the morning and west coast evening games start at 7:00.

It was ugly, but a "W" is a "W"

What a way to open the season!

The Cubs managed to put up 16 runs and still look awful. The bright spot of the day, and hopefully the season was Matt Murton. I wonder if Dusty had heart palpitations when he filled out a line-up card with two rookies starting.

Scott Williamson looked pretty familiar to Reds fans. D-Lee dropped an easy throw from Aramis. Big Z did not have his stuff. Dusty double-switched every time he got a chance- and got Neifi into the line up as soon as possible. The bullpen is being overworked already.

But now that the negativity is out of my system, I will say that I'm excited to see real baseball again. It was a long winter. I'm not worried about Zambrano- he'll find his stride and hitting is always ahead of pitching early in the season. I'm excited about the possibility of a whole season of Matt Murton in left. I still don't trust Dusty, but if Murton plays well, Dusty won't have a choice but to play him.

It's only one game, but at least it's a win. If the Cubs can pull off 13-14 more in April, they'll be on track for a playoff spot. Let's get #2 tomorrow.

Slacker of a Blogger Could be New Cubs GM

I've been a very lazy blogger. As the summer of 2005 wound down, I had a hard time exerting any energy on the Cubs. My initial malaise, followed by the birth of my son, a relatively ho-hum offseason, and an Ohio campaign season that seems to be heating up hasn't left much passion for blogging.

But I did recently purchase tickets to see the Cubs' trip to Jacobs Field. Still, I'm not nearly as excited about the baseball season as I was at this point last year. Quite frankly, I don't expect much out of the 2006 Cubs. I'll still root for them, I'll still follow them and I'll still tune in faithfully- but like most of my life as a Cubs fan, I'm just hoping that they finish higher than 4th in the division. Hopefully I'm wrong, hopefully I'm surprised- but I'm not holding my breath.

On the bright side, I think my own malaise and apathy toward this blog and the Cubs organization may qualify me for the General Manager position. Had I been GM over the last few months, I'm not sure that the team would necessarily be in a worse position than they are right now heading into spring training. I'm pretty sure I could ink over-the-hill pitchers with replacement parts in their arms for twice market value. I'm pretty sure I could down-grade the right field position and do nothing about left field. I'm pretty sure I could issue the same, recycled press releases stating "If we're healthy, we'll be competetive."

I haven't posted since August and with 10 minutes of typing, I think I'm caught up.